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07 Feb 2012

The board of Seattle's Intiman Theatre announced Feb. 6 that the Tony Award-winning institution has raised the $1 million needed to reopen its doors this summer with a four-play summer festival.

After shuttering last spring in the wake of major financial deficits, the Intiman enlisted Andrew Russell as artistic director and launched a vigorous campaign to begin paying off the theatre's deficits and raise enough funding to fully support a summer 2012 festival of work created and performed by Seattle-based artists.

"We've taken the last nine months to regroup, reorganize and strategize on how best to seize this opportunity, and we're so thrilled this community has rallied to help us blaze towards the finish line," Russell said in a statement. "We're here because of them, no question. Our producing and creative teams stand ready to begin their work, and we look forward to now putting our energy and momentum back where it belongs – the work on stage."

Plans for the Intiman beyond the summer festival have not been announced. All 2011 subscriptions, which were canceled when the company closed its doors, will be honored for the 2012 summer festival. Dates of the summer play festival will be revealed shortly.

As previously reported, the festival will include a new view of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet adapted to reflect the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and directed by Allison Narver.

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Russell will stage a fresh look at Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, which will incorporate choreography by Olivier Wevers. Marya Sea Kaminski will star in the title role.

Also planned are a "new outlandish production" conceived by "It Gets Better" campaign creator and author Dan Savage; as well as a two-act production from director Valerie Curtis-Newton, which will be staged in the Intiman's studio theatre and its courtyard.

"Most people know me as the guy that writes about sex, or the guy who started 'It Gets Better,' but I began my career in theatre," Savage added in a statement. "Intiman has invited me to direct something spectacular this summer, and I'm thrilled, stoked - even giddy - at the prospect of heading back into the rehearsal hall."